A TALE OF TWO COLLEAGUES

Gretchen and Akosua with Ms Elizabeth Ohene, former minister and journalist in Ghana, after an interview for one of their articles.

2021 Program Chairs, Gretchen Bauer and Akosua Darkwah, had unique circumstances surrounding their ASA service. An uncertain world, a virtual program, and a delayed start set the year ' s tone, but Gretchen and Akosua were an unusual pairing for Program Chairs from the start: they ' re colleagues and friends.

How did you meet and what was the first project you worked on together?

AD: We first met on email in early 2013 I think. I was then the Director of the Centre for Gender Studies and Advocacy at the University of Ghana and Gretchen was visiting Ghana with her family. She got in touch requesting to do a presentation at the Centre and I got the staff to facilitate the lecture. I do not actually think I was present at the lecture but we stayed in touch sporadically on email. I went on to write a letter of support for her Fulbright stay in Ghana which is when we really got to know each other. In our first project together, we explored the extent to which gendered electoral financing schemes fundamentally expand women ’ s rates of participation in politics.

GB: We had met a few times over the years inside Ghana and out, but really got to know each other when I had a Fulbright at the University of Ghana in the spring of 2016. Akosua lives a short way away from the Fulbright House where my son and I were staying and was at the time director of the Center for Gender Studies and Advocacy where I was based for my research. Akosua was very helpful as we were settling in and our sons – despite being five years apart – developed a fondness for each other. Akosua hooked me up with a Saturday morning walking group and before long the four of us were going out regularly for Saturday night dinners. Our first project started soon after I arrived; I had been invited to join a group of researchers based at the University of Bergen in Norway looking at gendered electoral financing mechanisms for women aspirants and candidates for elected office, with Ghana as one of the case studies. I quickly realized I did not want to do the Ghana case alone and invited Akosua to join, to the delight of all involved. That initial project led eventually to three co-authored publications – in the edited book that emerged from the project, and a journal article and book chapter to which we contributed after being invited.

How have your research projects evolved to fit the needs of both your primary disciplines?

GB: Well, African Studies is very clearly interdisciplinary and as such we were both used to working outside our own disciplinary boundaries. Being a political scientist and a sociologist, our disciplines complement each other. There have been funny moments, like with a fourth recent project and co-authored journal article that Akosua was a little less keen about –taking the model developed by a group of North American political scientists for understanding the cabinet appointment process and using it to understand the composition of cabinets in Ghana. As I explained to Akosua: ‘that is what political scientists do ’ (seek to apply the models of others), somewhat to her dismay. Today we are back to where we started with an invitation, again, to join the same group of researchers from the University of Bergen looking to include Ghana as a case study, this time investigating political violence during elections. That said, each of us has also pursued our own projects and publications in the intervening years, though we have always had something we are working on together.

AD: I don ’t think our research projects have evolved to fit the needs of our primary disciplines so much as evolved to fit our changing interests in answering particular research questions. The fact that we both use qualitative social science methods has made our collaborative projects easy. There have been no major discussions about the value of our qualitative research approach. Our disciplinary differences show up sometimes though. I vividly remember not being particularly interested in one research project we did together largely because it involved taking a concept developed in the West and seeking to apply it to Ghana. I blamed that approach on political scientists although truth be told, it does happen in Sociology too. As a Sociologist trained in grounded theory though, I am generally averse to such an approach. What experiences or lessons can you share with emerging scholars on how to establish strong, interdisciplinary networks?

Gretchen Bauer and Akosua Darkwah hanging out together.

AD: A strong interdisciplinary network has to be preceded by a strong interest in interdisciplinary research. Without an interest in reading widely outside of one ’ s own discipline, it is difficult to set up a strong interdisciplinary network. Secondly, one needs to be open to different ways of seeing the world. Tunnel vision regarding the most appropriate lenses or concepts to explain the world does not help. Humility to say I don ’t know what that concept is, I have never heard of it, I don ’t know what it means and the graciousness to accept the other ’ s lack of knowledge is also par for the course.

GB: Our collaboration over the years has no doubt led to each of us expanding our own professional networks –through interaction with each other ’ s networks. We have introduced each other to members of our respective networks, both behind the scenes and in person. Through membership in interdisciplinary organizations like the Ghana Studies Association and the African Studies Association, including the Women ’ s Caucus (and work with their associated efforts like scholarly journals and awards and other committees), and institutions like the Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa based at the University of Ghana, we have shared a wealth of professional (and personal) contacts and interactions.

Outside of academic research, do you collaborate and if so, in what capacities?

GB: You mean do we go shopping together? Yes, we have our favorite dressmakers and markets in Accra which we visit whenever I am in town. But we have also shared notes and interacted on almost every other facet of academic life. We have both been department heads and deans; we have collaborated over study abroad programs in Ghana. We have compared notes on teaching and fellowship opportunities and shared our professional networks. We keep each other informed of political developments in our respective countries, especially as they concern women in politics. We have exchanged plenty of advice and tips over the years, as each of us has navigated some new chapter in our professional lives.

AD: We are friends. We started out doing weekly dinners with our families; our sons became fast friends over the six month period inspite of the five year age gap. Our weekly dinners enabled us to touch base regarding our first research project but it also allowed a friendship to grow. We have done many things together since then; figured out public transportation in a Scandinavian city, climbed a mountain in another Scandinavian city, gone in search of handbags in Paris, hang out on the beaches of Elmina and Ada in Ghana and there have been countless, in fact perhaps way too many trips to get clothes in shops across Accra.

How has your work as Program Co-Chairs been impacted or shaped by your preexisting relationship?

AD: Program co-chair activities have been folded into our preexisting relationship. We do communicate fairly often on WhatsApp about anything and everything so discussions about program co-chair activities were folded into these conversations pretty easily. Zoom conversations to catch up have in the last year also included opportunities to fine tune an idea, discuss a question Alix has asked us…Pulling off the [program] concept note over the holiday season would definitely have been a challenge if we weren ’t already close friends who would have been communicating quite frequently over the holidays anyway. There were a couple of late nights given the 4 hour time difference between us as well which would perhaps have been harder to manage if we were having to navigate a relationship as well.

GB: The annual meeting for which we are program cochairs will again be remote, as has been all the planning for the meeting. We are very used to frequent what’ s app calls, emails and zoom meetings and our ASA business easily became a part of those. Since we have a long history of working together and a foundation of mutual trust and respect, decision making around the program has been greatly facilitated. We are used to interacting with each other and with others as a team.

Joint Publications:

Bauer, G., Darkwah, A. K., & Patterson, D. (2017). Women and post-independence African politics. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History.

Bauer, G., & Darkwah, A. K. (2019). “Some money has to be going… ” : Discounted filing fees to bring more women into parliament in Ghana. In R. Muriaas, V. Wang, & R. Murray (Eds.), Gendered Electoral Financing: Money, Power and Representation in Comparative Perspective(133-154). Routledge.

Bauer, G and AK Darkwah We Would Rather be Leaders than Parliamentarians ’ : Women and Political Office in Ghana. European Journal of Politics and Gender. 2020. 3(1): 101-119.

Bauer, G., & Darkwah, A. K. (2021). Party primaries and women ’ s representation in Ghana: More women candidates with more inclusive primaries? In L. Arriola, M. Johnson, & M. Phillips (Eds.), Women and Power in Africa: Aspiring, Campaigning and Governing in New Democracies (pp. 61-84). London, UK: Oxford University Press.

Bauer, G., & Darkwah, A. K. (2021). 'The president' s prerogative '? The cabinet appointment process in Ghana and the implications for gender parity. Politics and Gender